metal straw | ast. cha eunwoo

twenty

Eunwoo watched curiously as the girl suddenly began balancing herself carefully on the gaps of the concrete as if walking on tightropes, gasping quietly whenever she failed to do so. Her eyes focus intensely on the gaps as her life depended on them. It was as though she would perish in fire and die if she failed.

That was until she abruptly stopped her tightrope performance and halted mid-step, immediately catching Eunwoo's attention. He slowly stopped walking as she spun around to face him, ignoring her hair smacking her lips.

"You won't even tell me why they were staring at me strangely when I woke up?"

"No."

"Please? Was I drooling? Was I sleep talking? Was my mouth wide open?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes," he replied, telling her the same thing for the umpteenth time.

"Please?"

This time, Eunwoo couldn't give her an answer just yet. He hesitated. In his head, he was arguing with himself whether he should tell her what had happened.

Screw it.

"You fell and slept onto one of their shoulders. I didn't like it so I pulled you away and you slept on mine instead, the end," he answered with no expression at all to go along.

"I fell asleep onto your shoulder?"

"No, I laid your head there... you seemed more comfortable. Happy?"

Soyeon couldn't say. She felt like her throat clogging up because she couldn't find the words to say after. What was she supposed to say? Thank you for lending your shoulder? All she could do right then was smile, rising her cheekbones along with it. He returned it with his iconic eye smile, though it wasn't as huge as hers.

"That doesn't explain why they were staring at us like we did a crime-"

"We should hurry," Eunwoo interrupted, as he turned his attention to the ground, suddenly taking interest in the hard grey concrete, "It's this way, right? Your house?"

Soyeon watched as the boy walked away with such pace, taking hurried steps away from her.

"Was he jealous of me sleeping on a stranger's shoulder? Did he threaten them?" she muttered, humming a tune.

Soyeon brushed that thought aside but nearly choked when she noticed how far Eunwoo was. He stood patiently at the top of the staircase towards her house whereas Soyeon was still at the bottom. She climbed up the stairs quickly, skipping some steps along the way as her hand gripped tightly onto the railings.

"So you're an athlete too?" she breathed out, holding onto Eunwoo's arm for support, taking deep breaths.

"I was just walking."

"Cha Eunwoo, you were flying!"

He scoffed in amusement at how exaggerated she sounded. While she was still regretting her decision of running, he reached out to ring the doorbell.

"Drink lots of water and rest."

"Yes, sir," she sighed, finally having the strength to push herself off of Eunwoo and stand on her own.

"Soyeon, now you decided to come?"

Soyeon felt goosebumps rushing through her arms when her ears boomed to the sound of the voice yelling out to her.

"Your baby keeps on crying!"

Eunwoo's eyes immediately widened, his ears perking up to what he was hearing, "Baby?"